By the time I made it through the open door and into the house, George was on top of Dean, both of them splayed out on the hardwood floor in the foyer. George was straddling Dean, one hand clutching his shirt and the other pulled back ready to punch Dean in the face. George must have already landed a punch, blood trickled down from Dean’s nose.
“George!” I screamed. “Get off of him.” I stood there helpless as George hit him again.
Dean must have gotten some strength from somewhere because even though he took another shot to the face, he fought back, shoving George off of him. They rolled around the floor, punching and kicking at one another. It was hard to tell if either was landing their punches. They knocked over a foyer table. Keys, mail and a lamp crashed to the floor.
There was no way I could pry them apart. They both outweighed me, and there was a good chance I would take a hit in the crossfire. I didn’t know what to do so I tried to stay out of the way.
“What is wrong with you? Stop it!” Dean yelled out in between breaths, dodging George’s fists.
“You screwed my wife, you backstabbing…I’m going to kill you,” George shouted back, taking swing after swing.
“You were screwing everyone in town,” Dean retorted, not denying it, landing a shot to George’s gut.
Blow after blow they landed. It seemed to take forever for the cops to get there. Finally, I heard sirens off in the distance. Two cop cars squealed their brakes in front of the house and officers ran towards the door guns drawn.
After a bit of struggle, the uniformed cops pulled George and Dean apart and shoved them in opposite directions. That was when Luke walked in and saw the messy scene.
“What is going on here?” Luke demanded. He looked at them and then over to me.
They both sat on the floor. Both out of breath. George’s face was red. He was still enraged. I think he knew better than to continue with the cops there. Dean wiped his bloody face on his shirt. Neither of them responded to Luke.
“I told George about the drugs and the affair,” I said as way of explanation.
Luke furrowed his brow at me and shook his head. It was clear he wasn’t happy with that decision. I never thought George would lose his temper like this. I knew he’d be upset, but this wasn’t a response I expected.
“You never loved her. Did you kill her?” Dean shouted at George from across the room. They both slumped against opposite walls.
“No, why are you trying to ruin my life?” George asked resigned. “How could you do this to me? How could you buy her drugs?”
Blood continued to drip down Dean’s face. His nose was clearly broken. He leaned back against the wall in obvious defeat. I couldn’t tell, but it seemed as if Dean was crying.
We all just stood there looking at him. The minutes ticked by. It was getting more and more uncomfortable. The tension was high. The cops seemed ready to arrest. I was just on edge waiting to see what would happen next.
Dean finally stood up, pulled himself together and arranged his clothing back into place. He looked down at George and said evenly, “I didn’t just screw your wife. I loved her. We loved each other. I never bought her drugs. I took her to rehab the day she disappeared. I haven’t seen her since.”
CHAPTER 59
TO SAY I WAS SPEECHLESS was probably an understatement. I wasn’t sure how Dean could know where Maime was this whole time and not tell us.
Luke stuck his hand out and helped George off the floor. Dean left, walking into a back room of the house. We stood there in silence. He returned with ice and a towel for his nose and a baggie of ice and towel for George.
Luke waved off the uniformed cops. Dean guided the four of us to the formal dining room to the left of the foyer. We all took seats around a large oak table. Once settled, without too much prompting, Dean finally started to give us some details.
Dean explained that he had been having an affair with Maime for years. She had turned to him when she suspected George was having yet another affair. Maime showed up at his place late one night. She had been crying and wondering what she had done to deserve it. She couldn’t take the sleepless nights anymore, wondering where her husband was going.
She told Dean that George wouldn’t answer his cellphone when he was away from home and lied to her all the time about where he was and who he was with. Maime confided in Dean that she knew there was another woman. There were phone calls George wouldn’t answer when she was around. Late at night when George thought she was asleep, she found him whispering into his cellphone. She came to Dean looking for comfort and guidance and had even talked divorce. Dean told us one night turned into a few lunch meetings. Lunches turned to dinners. When one thing led to another, their affair started. As the months wore on, Dean said he suspected Maime was seeing someone else, too.
He had no idea who, but it was shortly after her drug habit became apparent. She always seemed out of it, manic one moment and depressed the next. Dean said he thought maybe Maime was having a mental breakdown. She was twitchy at times, her eyes dilated, and her words slurred like she was drunk. Dean never smelled alcohol on her, never saw her drink so he started to suspect drugs.
The breaking point, Dean said, was a night a few weeks back. Maime came to Dean’s place late in the evening. She passed out on his bed and didn’t fully wake for two days. George was on a business trip, Dean explained. He didn’t know what else to do so he called Maime’s father. Dean said he didn’t feel like he had much of an option. Edwin came to his house. Dean admitted the affair. Together, they made a plan to get her into rehab.
“I was just oblivious to this whole thing. No one thought to clue me in?” George asked, the shock in his voice apparent.
“You were the cause. I’ve talked to you before about your affairs. There wasn’t any stopping you,” Dean explained with an obvious anger in his voice. “And anyway, Edwin wasn’t convinced you weren’t the one drugging her to keep her oblivious and occupied so you could continue running around.”
I really thought George was going to leap across the table and hit him again. He didn’t. He didn’t say anything. He sat looking disgusted like Dean was possibly the most idiotic person alive.
Before Dean clammed up and stopped talking, Luke encouraged him to talk about what happened the day Maime went missing.
Dean said he picked Maime up from work that Friday and drove her to the rehab in Maumelle, a suburb just across the river from Little Rock. Dean said Maime was crying and didn’t want to go. Edwin had threatened to financially cut her off the night before if she didn’t follow through with treatment.
The three of them met, and Edwin told Maime that her behavior was out of control, and he couldn’t have her embarrassing him or his law firm. Dean said the speech was harsh. He felt bad for Maime that Edwin was being so cold, but she finally agreed to go.
Dean said he dropped Maime off at the rehab and then went straight to his office. He worked for several hours. He explained that right about the time he came home about nine that night, the intake nurse at the rehab called him and said that Maime had left the facility. They said they had finished the intake process and she was put in her room. When it came time for lights out, she was gone. They searched the facility and the grounds but there was no sign of her. The nurse assured him this happened all the time when people voluntarily checked themselves in. Other than calling Dean, they didn’t think much of it.
Dean said he debated between going back to the rehab to search or to her office to see if her SUV was there. Dean said he and Edwin planned to pick her SUV up in the morning and bring it to her house. When George got back from his trip, they would explain.
With her missing, Dean decided to try her office first. He had raced back to her office assuming she’d get her car as quickly as she could. By the time he made it there, her SUV was gone. He assumed she took off and was in hiding someplace, avoiding going back to rehab.
Dean confided he and Edwin had been searching for Maime ever since. They had ho
ped she would turn up, but then women’s bodies were found in the river. Maime hadn’t made contact with anyone. There was no trace of her after leaving the rehab. Dean said he talked to everyone at the rehab he could and no one saw her leave. He assumed someone picked her up. He didn’t know who. No one seemed to know anything.
Luke and I shared a look. Luke asked, “Well that’s certainly some story. Dean, if this is true why haven’t you told us this prior to today?”
“Because we honestly thought that George found out about the affair and killed her.”
CHAPTER 60
DEAN’S CONFESSION HUNG IN THE AIR. For several seconds, no one spoke. Dean shifted in his seat, his eyes darting back and forth between us.
“When George asked me to say I was with him Friday night, I was pretty sure he had killed her. I thought it was his way of telling me he knew what I had done. I didn’t know what to do. Then bodies started piling up. I’ve been as confused as everyone else. I really do love Maime though. I really do.”
George’s eyes were zeroed in on Dean, and for a moment, I thought he was going to take a few more swings at him. He didn’t. Resting his head in his hands, he said resigned, “I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill anyone.”
Turning to Dean, Luke demanded, “I need you to come to the station and give a formal statement. I need to see if there is anything else you remember. We need the details of the rehab and your contact there. I have one question you can answer right now.”
“Okay, what?” Dean asked cautiously.
“Why have you and Edwin been meeting and paying Detective David Norwalk?”
Dean looked down, but didn’t speak. We waited. The seconds felt like hours.
Finally, he explained, “He was moonlighting for me. I had him follow Maime a few times, trying to find out about the drugs. Instead he followed me and took photos of Maime and me together. He was blackmailing me.”
I was sure neither George nor Dean noticed the slight twitch in Luke’s eyes. Heads were going to roll when he got back to the station. Luke stood, reminded Dean to meet him back at the station later today, and then motioned for me to walk him to the door. Once out of earshot, he asked me if I’d be okay alone with them. I said I would be. He told me he’d call me later and then left.
Dean stood quietly in the dining room waiting for us to leave. George didn’t say anything to him as he walked towards the door and walked out of the house. Before I could follow, Dean reached out, putting a hand on my arm and pulling me back. He ran his hand down his bruised face, a trail of dried blood under his nose.
“I really love her, Riley. I was only trying to help her. Make him understand.”
I nodded but didn’t say anything. What could you say in a situation like that?
Stepping out of Dean’s house, I saw George’s Chevy Tahoe pull around the corner and out of sight. I went to my Jeep, turned the ignition and clicked off the radio. My head was starting to pound. I made a quick trip to Starbucks, loaded up on some caffeine, and headed back to George’s house.
When I got there, his truck was parked in the driveway and his front door was wide open. I walked in to find him lying on the couch, arm thrown over his eyes and an ice pack on his cheek.
“Here,” I said angrily, handing him a cup of coffee. “We need to talk, George. Now.”
Stretching my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the ankles, I leaned my back up against the couch on the far end from where George was lying.
“My life is falling apart. I keep making it worse. I don’t even know how to help myself anymore,” George pleaded.
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You keep making poor decisions and then expecting everyone else to clean up after you. It stops now,” I said. Then I really laid into him.
“If you ever lay a hand on me again, I’ll kill you without thinking twice. Trust me, Luke probably wouldn’t even charge me. I’m going to ask this only once. Have you ever hit or laid a hand on Maime or any other woman in anger?”
George sat up. He didn’t look at me. “No, not once. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. It’s just what you said, I just couldn’t. I lost control.”
“Save the excuses. It never happens again,” I said forcefully. “Luke said he interviewed you the other night. Your lawyer hasn’t returned my call. He needs to call me. Tell him that. Luke said he showed you photos of the other women and you reacted strangely. You knew Sara and Shannon. Did you know the other woman?”
George shook his head no. “I don’t think so. I thought maybe the other looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. Riley, I didn’t kill anyone. I don’t know where Laura and Maime are. I don’t have anything to do with it. You have to believe me.”
I sat watching him, taking slow sips my coffee. I was exhausted, thoroughly sickened by everything and everyone. I could feel the anger starting to bubble up in my chest. I was mad at myself for ever loving and trusting George. I was livid at him for everything he’d ever done to me, Maime and every other woman in his life.
I knew I couldn’t sit with my anger anymore. I got up and walked to the door to leave. Before I left, I turned to him one last time. “George, I think right now I might be the only one that believes you. You’ve got so many secrets though. You’ve got to help yourself. If you know something that can help this investigation, you have got to start cooperating with me and with the police. Otherwise, you are going to be arrested for the murders of all these women. Right now, you do look like a serial killer. The affairs, all the lies, and that little stunt you pulled grabbing me and shaking me – you’ve got something going on and you need some serious professional help.”
George didn’t say anything at first. He eyed me and then a sarcastic smirk spread across his face. “How long have you been sleeping with Detective Morgan? He spent the night at your house last night.”
I stepped out the front door without looking at him or saying another word. The idea that George was spying on me shook me to my core, but there was no way I was giving him the satisfaction of a response or a reaction.
CHAPTER 61
LUKE WAS HALFWAY BACK to the police station when Purvis called him. Luke answered on the second ring. “Talk to me.”
“I’m standing in your office waiting for you. I’ve got the results you wanted. I had to make the guys at the lab work overnight.” Purvis paused and took an audible breath. “Luke, all four victims are positive for succinylcholine.”
“Be right there.” Luke hung up. He called Riley to give her the confirmation that the media definitely had the information first. Luke knew she was planning to speak with the reporter. Armed with this, she might get further.
Arriving back at the station, Luke found Captain Meadows, Tyler and some of the other detectives including Norwalk gathered around the conference table. Purvis was at the end of the table with files in hand. Luke took a seat next to his captain.
Purvis started immediately, “As I just told Luke, I found traces of succinylcholine in all of the victims’ blood.”
“What kind of effect does this have on a person?” Tyler asked before Luke had the chance.
Purvis explained, “It’s basically a short-term muscle relaxant used in anesthesia. It can render a person unable to move but leave them conscious, for at least a few moments, depending on the dosage. Even though you can’t move, you are still aware of what’s happening. Eventually, it will kill you by shutting down your diaphragm and cutting off oxygen to your brain.”
“Why the overkill?” Luke asked confused. “The victims were tied up, which we see by the ligature marks, so why drug them? Is this a common drug?”
“Just to terrorize them. Maybe the killer gets off on it,” suggested Captain Meadows.
Luke shrugged and shook his head, not sure.
Purvis continued. “I can’t answer why. You’d all know that better. But no, it’s not common at all outside of hospitals and horse farms. They use it frequently to put down horses. I found a few cases in California where this
was used in criminal cases. It could be used more than we realize. It’s not something a medical examiner will commonly test for as part of a regular toxicology screen.”
Purvis paused for other questions. When there weren’t any, he continued on. “I noticed other than the restraint marks on their wrists and ankles, the women didn’t show other signs of struggle. That would be consistent with this drug and being restrained. I also found small shallow puncture wounds that could be consistent with administering the drug. They were definitely held for a few days, killed, and then dumped. We’ll have to go over the timeframes but it looks like the third victim you found yesterday received the worst of it. She was clearly beaten before she was strangled. It was pink nail polish that was used to write the word whore across her body.”
Nobody said anything for a few moments. Luke then got up and started drawing a timeline on the chalk board, connecting victims and the dates they were recovered. Purvis laid out time of death for each of the victims in relation to when they were found.
All of the victims, oddly enough, had been dead about seventy-two hours give or take. Purvis couldn’t be absolutely sure how long they had been in the water before they were found in relation to their time of death but basically three days on each from time of death to recovery.
The only case they really could draw a full timeframe on was Sara Bloomfield. They knew Sara went missing on a Thursday morning and was found the following Wednesday night. Purvis said she had been dead approximately seventy-two hours. That would put her murder right about Sunday. What exactly was the killer doing with her from Thursday to Sunday? Then another thought hit Luke. Both Maime and Laura were kidnapped on Friday. If the cases were connected, where was Sara being held while the killer was out kidnapping two women in one night? Was that even logistically possible? Luke posed the scenario to his team.
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